I recently came into about 40 feet of military parachute cord. This is the thin, lightweight nylon cord which is used for parachute lines. Does anyone know what the test strength is?
There are many types with differing strengths, according to this site:
I haven’t looked at ChalkPit’s link, but I’ve always heard mil-spec parachute cord being referred to as “550 cord” because it’s rated for 550 pounds (for each cord – not all of them together on the 'chute!). This is for the cord that has seven nylon interior strands surrounded by a nylon jacket.
Very handy stuff to have around!
Hi Johnny;
For sport parachuting gear you’ll generally find either Spectra (aka microline) in 550 and 825 pound breaking strengths or regular nylon in 550 pound strength. I have 825 Spectra on my main.
Spectra is nice because it’s considerably less bulky than nylon. The lower bulk and stretchiness of microline (I read that the modulus of elasticity of Spectra is comparable to steel but haven’t looked it up myself) caused some problems including “line dump” and hard openings when it was first introduced in the 90s but that was taken care of with attention to proper packing techniques.
Blue skies!
Duh. Make that “Hi Hermann”.
Yeah, I do think it may come in handy. I’ve been assembling an “emergency kit”, which entails things I may need in a SHTF scenario. So far, I’ve got the parachute cord, a military first aid kit, candles, matches, and other such goodies. Oh, yeah, and a couple of magazines full of .223.
Its a work in progress.
Hey Valgard!
Since this is starting to swerve into a whole 'nuther area of discussion, would you happen to know how much parachuting lessons cost? This is something I’ve been contemplating for a long time.
Total hijack:
Hermann: If you’re making an “emergency kit” (I put that in quotes, since most emergencies don’t require 5.56!) one useful thing you can do with 550 cord is to make a gill net for fishing. Take the inner strands out of two lenghts of casing. Tie one casing aross a couple of upright supports. (Keep in mind the size of the net you want. One that is too small wight be of little use.) Tie the inner cords at regular intervals across the length of the net. Tie adjacent pairs of inner cord together so as to make an opening of the desired size. (i.e., Tie strings #1 and #2 about an inch or two from the top. Tie #3 and #4, #5 and #6, etc. at the same distance. Tie farther down for larger fish and higher up for smaller fish.) When you’re done with the first row, tie the second string of the first pair to the first string of the second pair, the second string from the second pair to the first string of the third pair, and so on. Repeat until you have made a net with diamond-shaped openings. Finish by tying the cord ends to the cord casing as you did at the start. You can fit the net across a stream or weight it for casting. I don’t know, but you might even be able to string it between trees to catch birds. (Just guessing.)
I’ve found parachute cord to be very handy. I’ve used it to tie up an old (like from my early childhood!) sleeping bag when the ties on it broke. I’ve used it for fixing a temporary flag pole to my Willys. I’ve used it for securing things. I used the casing to put over my dogtag chain when I was in the CAP. (No, dogtags aren’t issued. But CAP pilots fly low, often over rough terrain, and sometimes in poor weather; so I decided to get some.) You can use it to rig a shelter (such as a tarp). If something needs tying, parachute cord is handy. It’s strong, lightweight, and doesn’t take much room.
I likes me my 550 cord! 
Happy to help, as it’s offtopic we can do this offline - send me an email and I’ll show you where to get started.
I have two different kinds of paracord. One has a smooth outer surface woven from fine fibers, and one has a coarse surface woven from thick fibers. I suppose knots in the coarse stuff are less likely to slip or come untied, but are there other pros and cons of each?